When a major party changes strategy two weeks before an election like Blue and White has done, drama must be lurking in the background. And so it was among the closest advisers of Blue and White leader Benny Gantz and the decision to make a 180-degree course correction and cease courting the ultra-Orthodox parties. In doing so, Gantz adopted the same position as the effective campaign being run by Yisrael Beitenu Chairman Avigdor Liberman — opposing religious coercion and ultra-Orthodox extortion. Gantz hopes it will prevent voters from abandoning his party for Yisrael Beitenu.
In the language of election campaigns, Blue and White has found itself “hemorrhaging votes.” In fact, the party has been losing them for weeks, mostly to Liberman, though it has also lost a few to the Democratic Camp, Labor-Gesher and even the Arab Joint List. Unlike the Likud, which polls indicate has a very loyal base — there are very few undecided voters among the Likud — Blue and White’s electorate tends to be more hesitant and subject to outside influences. The assessment within Blue and White is that if Gantz had not changed direction, the party would continue to lose votes.
